


Running Away

by TheBigLoserQueen



Series: Repairman AU [14]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Comfort/Angst, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Het, Human, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Love, Romance, Running Away
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-12-12 15:16:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11739708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBigLoserQueen/pseuds/TheBigLoserQueen
Summary: Thornstriker leaves home to stay with Bloodshed.





	Running Away

She wouldn’t stop crying. Bloodshed was at a complete lost at what to do, so he just continued to hold her and rush his hand through her hair, gently shushing her in hopes that she would calm down. And maybe tell him what was wrong. 

He could only guess that she had run away from home. Bloodshed had been sitting in his apartment, drinking a beer and watching a movie when frantic knocking came to his door. When he opened it, Thornstriker was standing there holding a large duffle bag with tears in her eyes. The second he said her name, she threw herself at him and started bawling.

So now they were sitting on the couch, his girlfriend in his lap while her duffle bag laid at their feet. Her cries weren’t as hysteric as before, but she still had yet to stop.

“Come on, Thornstriker, it’s okay,” he murmured softly. “What’s wrong?”

She just sniffled.

He let out a heavy sigh. Gently, he pushed her back to hold her face in his hands. Her eyes were puffy and red and she still had tears trickling down her face. Her cheeks were tear-stained… He paused, looking to her right cheek. It was little redder and more swollen than the other one.

“Thornstriker?” He gently brushed the hair out of her face, his fingers caressing her cheek. “What happened?”

She reached up to wipe her tears. “I-I’m sorry, I-!”

He shushed her. “No, no, it’s okay… Just tell me what’s wrong.”

Thornstriker nodded, letting a few more sobs out before reaching up under her glasses to wipe away the rest of the tears. Even if she was upset, she knew she owed her boyfriend an explanation. After all, she had just showed up without any noticed. No phone call, no text, nothing – she just ran over here with a large suitcase in hand. She didn’t even know if he had been home…

But at the time, she hadn’t cared. She just had to get out of that house.

“M-My parents… W-We had a fight.”

His eyes widened. Fight? Since when did Thornstriker ever fight with anyone, especially her parents? All the time he had known her, she didn’t have the courage to stand up to them. She always had to hide behind her brother, who had no issues getting into screaming matches with their selfish, ignorant parents.

But her brother had left home a while ago, leaving her alone with them. Bloodshed always hated how she just bowed to their will and did everything they asked of her, even when it was clear she didn’t really want to do it. For Primus’ sake, she was twenty-one; she didn’t have to listen to them.

And it seemed that today, she hadn’t.

 “What did you fight about?”

 "M-My father… H-He wanted to introduce me t-to one of his… colleague’s son.”

Bloodshed let out a heavy breath, hugging her tightly as he rubbed her back. Of course he did. Leave it to that asshole to completely ignore Thornstriker’s own dreams. She was young and pretty and her parents thought she was single. It made sense that they would try to hook her up with one of their rich friends.

“A-And Mother… Mother told me I would get along well with the man, b-but…” Her hands tightened on his shirt. They had showed her the picture. Blonde, a little older than her, tall, lanky – Mother said he was going to take his father’s place in the business one day and was convinced she would have made a great wife for him. “I-I told them I wasn’t… interested.”

“And they tried to convince you otherwise?” he asked, pushing some fallen hair behind her ear.

She nodded. “I-I tried to make it seem like I-I wanted to finish school first, but… but they wouldn’t listen to me. S-So I told them… I was already seeing someone, so I couldn’t.”

His hand paused in its comforting movements. “You told them you were dating me?”

She shook her head. The thought had crossed her mind, but even when things got heated, Thornstriker knew better than to reveal the truth. There was no way she could tell her parents she was dating the repairman… They would have been furious. She didn’t want Bloodshed or his father’s business to be affected because of her angry parents.

“I-I just said I was seeing someone… Wh-When they demanded who, I didn’t say, but… But I said that I wasn’t going to meet that man. Then…”

“Then… what?”

“Father… Father hit me.”

Bloodshed’s eyes widened. “He what-?!”

“He hit me… Th-Then he and Mother started fighting about me and blaming each other for my lack of respect. I-I didn’t know what else t-to do. I-I just packed a bag and came here…” Her tears started coming back again as she buried her face into his chest, her shoulders starting to shake again. “Pl-Please, c-can I stay here? J-Just for a little bit, please, please I-I don’t want to go back-!”

“Shh, shh…” He pulled her into his chest, hugging her tightly. “You can stay, you can stay as long as you want to. Thornstriker, please don’t cry…” He ran his fingers through her hair, gently shushing her as she started to cry again. Primus, she didn’t need to ask. He would have let her stay here even if she hadn’t gotten into a fight with her parents.

But knowing her father had hit her… He was tempted to never let her return home. Primus, he had always thought his family was screwed up, but at least his parents loved him. But those two… They had never given Thornstriker any love or respect in that damn house. They treated her like an object, ignoring her until she was useful.

They didn’t care about her dreams. They probably had no idea she wanted to do research for biomedicine and that she wanted to get her masters immediately out of college. She had already helped her associate professor with a researcher paper! And he knew that her parents couldn’t give two shits about it, if they even knew.

Primus, if he didn’t know how much trouble it would cause, he would head over to her parents’ house and beat the shit out of her father. Who the hell did he think he was?! Hitting Thornstriker just because she didn’t want to marry his friend’s shit kid…

But he wouldn’t. Especially not when Thornstriker needed him. So he held her close, shushing her gently as her sobs echoed through the apartment.

* * *

Bloodshed had finally gotten her to calm down about half an hour later. He fixed her up some leftover chicken in the fridge before she took a shower. While she was in the bathroom, he took the time to move her suitcase into his room and tidied his room a little more. And he had called her brother.

He never enjoyed talking to the Airstream (and he knew the feeling was mutual), but he figured Thornstriker would want him to know where she was. The conversation hadn’t been pleasant, but, for once, Airstream said it was probably best she was with him. If she had run away to Airstream’s place, their parents would have just come down there and taken her back.

Her parents not only didn’t have any idea where he lived, but they also didn’t know he and Thornstriker were dating. So, as Airstream put it, they would have no reason to suspect him and they wouldn’t even be able to check up on him since they didn’t know where he lived. Which was fine by him, he definitely didn’t want her parents here anyway.

So with Airstream’s reluctant blessing, she was staying here. Knowing him though, her older brother would show up every once in a while.

Bloodshed moved to sit down on his bed when the bathroom door creaked open. He looked up to see Thornstriker slowly come out of the bathroom, now wearing her light blue pajama top and shorts. She kept her head down, unable to look at him as she walked towards the bed.

“Thornstriker?”

“… I’m sorry.”

He grew confused, standing up. “What’re you talking about?”

“I… I just show up here unannounced and now you’re housing me because I couldn’t… do anything but run away-”

“Thornstriker…” He walked over to her. Gently, he titled up her head to have her look at him. Primus, she looked so miserable… He wished he could make her parents understand, but it was all out of his hands. When it came to her parents, there wasn’t anything he could do. “You did more than enough. This is the first time you’ve stood up to them. I’m proud of you.”

“A-All I did was tell them no…”

“Which is more than you’ve done before,” Bloodshed pointed out.

Maybe it didn’t seem like much, but Thornstriker never rebelled against her parents even when she should have. The fact she not only said no, but also ran away was almost incomprehensible. Completely unlike her. But it was brave and he had to admire her for that.  

“… Is it really okay for me to stay here?” she asked. “I-I don’t want to become a burden or-!”

He leaned down to silence her with a quick kiss. Before she could push away or reciprocate, he pulled back to look at her now blushing and confused face. Bloodshed gave her a soft smile before stroking her cheek.

“You’re my girlfriend. You can stay here as long as you want to. Okay?"

“Al-All right,” she stuttered, still blushing brightly.

“Come on… Let’s go to bed.”

Thornstriker nodded, allowing him to guide her to the bed. What did she do to deserve someone as sweet as Bloodshed? He was letting her stay here without anything in return. He comforted her when she was bawling her eyes out, even though she showed up without any warning. He was so kind and loving and understanding…

And her parents wanted to take that away from her. The only reason why they didn’t take school away from her was because Airstream had convinced them that a college-educated woman would look better to any potential matchmaking partners. But Bloodshed… She didn’t want to be apart from him. She loved him and he loved her because of who she was, not because of her background. She didn’t want to be apart from him.  

They both lied down on the bed, Bloodshed turning off the light while she took off her glasses to put them on the nightstand. Once he turned to face her, she scooted closer to him and pressed herself into his chest. He was caught off guard for a moment, but quickly pulled her close and ran his fingers through her hair.

“Get some sleep, okay?” he murmured softly. “We can talk more in the morning.”

She nodded, closing her eyes as a wave of exhaustion suddenly came over her. She shouldn’t have been surprised. She had waited until her parents had left shortly after their argument, called up a cab and stuffed everything she could into a suitcase before rushing out the door. She had no plan, just a destination. She had been lucky he was home.

But she didn’t want to think about that anymore. So she allowed sleep to take her, feeling safe inside her lover’s embrace.


End file.
